A partial

lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Eart ...

took place on Monday, March 24, 1997, the first of two lunar eclipses in 1997. This partial lunar eclipse was nearly total; however, it occurred 3 days after the lunar

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any el ...

, so the umbral shadow is smaller. This was the 29th member of

Lunar Saros 132 Saros series 132 for lunar eclipses occurs at the moon's ascending node, repeating 18 years 11 and 1/3 days. It contains 71 member events, with 12 total eclipses, starting in 2015 and ending in 2213. List See also * List of lunar eclipses ...

, and the last of the first set of partial eclipses. The next event was the April 2015 lunar eclipse, which was the first of 12 total eclipses. This eclipse was the third of an ''almost tetrad'' (that occurred when there were 4 consecutive lunar eclipses that had an umbral eclipse magnitude of 0.9 or greater). The others were 04 Apr 1996 (T), 27 Sep 1996 (T) and 16 Sep 1997 (T).

Visibility

This eclipse was completely visible from North and South America, and visible setting over Western Europe and Africa.

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 1997

* A total solar eclipse on March 9. * A partial lunar eclipse on March 24. * A partial solar eclipse on September 2. * A total lunar eclipse on September 16.

Lunar year series

This was the third of four lunar year eclipses at the ascending node of the moon's orbit. The

lunar year A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases (synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Gr ...

series repeats after 12 lunations or 354 days (Shifting back about 10 days in sequential years). Because of the date shift, the Earth's shadow will be about 11 degrees west in sequential events.

Saros series

Inex series

Tritos series

* Preceded: Lunar eclipse of April 24, 1986 * Followed: Lunar eclipse of February 21, 2008

Tzolkinex

* Preceded: Lunar eclipse of February 9, 1990 * Followed: Lunar eclipse of May 4, 2004

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, ''The half-saros'' This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of

Solar Saros 139 Saros cycle series 139 for solar eclipses occurs at the Moon's ascending node, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 events. It has 16 partial solar eclipses, 12 will be hybrid and 43 will be total. The first total eclipse occurred o ...

Gallery

March 1997 partial lunar eclipse 500UT-dale ireland.png, Hayward, California, 5:00 UT

Notes

External links

* * Photos *
Dave Lane's March 24, 1997 Lunar Eclipse Movies and Images
*
March 24, 1997 Partial Lunar Eclipse, Bill Pearce
*

** ttp://www.funkhousers.org/eclipse/march_1997/index.html Lunar Eclipse of March 24, 1997, James Funkhouser*
The 91% eclipsed moon on March 23-24, 1997
1997-03 1997 in science March 1997 events {{lunar-eclipse-stub